President Biden won the White House because the coronavirus kept him hidden in his basement and protected his campaign from his greatest liability – the candidate himself, says a new book.
The Biden camp was based in part on the strategy of “you put your stupid uncle in the basement,” referring to the Democratic candidate, according to “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely the Presidency.”
Even former President Obama initially refused to support his 78-year-old ex-vice president and friend, fearing he could become a “ tragicomic caricature of an aging politician having his last hurray ” if not protected from himself , the book says.
The authors of the work – Jonathan Allen of NBC News and Amie Parnes of The Hill – write it time and time again “ the stars aligned ” for Biden, a previous two-time hopeful loser who, despite himself, made it to his third attempt.
And no one was more caught off guard than the Trump camp.
The tome says Trump watched Biden give a CNN interview in May and then asked top assistant Kellyanne Conway, “What do you think?”
Conway replied, “I think if we lose to him, we’re pathetic,” the book says.
Trump laughed, say the book’s authors, who also wrote “ Shattered ” about Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential bid.
“Until the COVID thing came, we won four hundred electoral votes,” a source familiar with Trump’s internal numbers told the authors around February 2020.
Even one of Biden’s top advisers, Anita Dunn, is said to have said to an employee at one point, “COVID was the best thing that happened to him.”
In mid-March 2020, Biden’s team converted the basement of his home in Wilmington, Del., Into a makeshift studio from which to safely issue statements.
“They used the coronavirus as an excuse to keep him in the basement, and it was smart,” a Trump adviser told the authors.
“Biden was able to hide his greatest weakness, which was himself. And he did it with an excuse that sounded responsible. “
But Biden’s broadcast on the night of the March 17 primaries was just bizarre, the book says.
“There was a hostage video quality on the broadcast. It was cloudy and dark, ”the book describes.
There was a very slight delay as he spoke, leaving Biden’s words out of sync with the movements of his mouth. This was the man who would send Donald Trump to Mar-a-Lago for good? “
A Biden assistant told the authors, “I was cringing all the time. He looked like he didn’t know what he was doing. ”
Meanwhile, Obama appeared to be “ in love with former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke ” as a presidential candidate, though he ultimately left his influence on his former vice president, who he once likened to a brother, the book says.
And by the fall, Trump had become “his own invisible enemy,” the book says.
With less than a month to go to the election, Trump had just come off a debate show in which he had managed to make the challenger appear more presidential, he had little money, he discouraged Republicans from voting by mail. had killed more than two hundred thousand of his fellow Americans, and he ignored advice to show just an ounce of humanity, ” write the authors.
“He couldn’t see that he was hurting himself.”
Within a month, Biden would have won the presidency with “a boring message and a blank agenda,” the authors say.
Representatives for the president did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Tuesday.
-Additional reporting by Steven Nelson